What do you think?
Rate this book
In Summer
Summertime. If you close your eyes you can feel the warm sun on your skin, hear the leaves rustling in the breeze, smell the freshly mown lawn just up the street. Summer is a lush territory. Summer is a realm of its own. And summer can encompass you in a way no other season can. It can swallow you up.
The summer after high school is a time of change for Leo Peery. Upon learning the stunning truth behind why his mother has been acting so distant, Leo throws himself into complex relationships, confused as to whether he hopes to find himself or lose himself amid the complications. With the helpful distractions of bicycle accidents, regretful ex-girlfriends, diving accidents, and the tragic death of a jeep, Leo hopes to forget his troubles. Caught between childhood and adulthood, he will learn before fall the consequences of his actions, and the importance of being honest with himself and the people in his life.
A lush and lyrical trip through the exuberance that is the last summer before responsibility, In Summer tells the story of boundaries we have all crossed. With deceptively effortless writing centering the reader directly in Leo's experiences, Jeremy Jackson creates enormous emotional impact. The joys of summer are simple and satisfying; the sorrows are striking and large. Jackson, author of the critically acclaimed novel Life at These Speeds , has written a stunning tale of personal transformation that manages to simultaneously portray the beauties and brutalities of life.
The summer after high school is a time of change for Leo Peery. Upon learning the stunning truth behind why his mother has been acting so distant, Leo throws himself into complex relationships, confused as to whether he hopes to find himself or lose himself amid the complications. With the helpful distractions of bicycle accidents, regretful ex-girlfriends, diving accidents, and the tragic death of a jeep, Leo hopes to forget his troubles. Caught between childhood and adulthood, he will learn before fall the consequences of his actions, and the importance of being honest with himself and the people in his life.
A lush and lyrical trip through the exuberance that is the last summer before responsibility, In Summer tells the story of boundaries we have all crossed. With deceptively effortless writing centering the reader directly in Leo's experiences, Jeremy Jackson creates enormous emotional impact. The joys of summer are simple and satisfying; the sorrows are striking and large. Jackson, author of the critically acclaimed novel Life at These Speeds , has written a stunning tale of personal transformation that manages to simultaneously portray the beauties and brutalities of life.
- GenresFiction
288 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Jackson
29 books50 followersJeremy Jackson was raised in the Ozark borderlands of central Missouri on a small farm. He attended Vassar College, where he won the English Department Prize for Fiction. After college he earned his M.F.A. at the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, where he studied under Frank Conroy, Marilynne Robinson, and James Alan McPherson. While in the Workshop, he was awarded a Teaching-Writing Fellowship.
Jeremy's first novel, Life at These Speeds, was published in 2002. It was a selection of the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers program, a Booklist Editor's Choice, and is currently being developed as a feature film. In 2004, Jeremy's second novel, In Summer, was a BookSense Recommended Book.
Jeremy has also written three cookbooks: The Cornbread Book, Desserts that Have Killed Better Men Than Me, and Good Day for a Picnic. The Cornbread Book was nominated for a James Berad Award. His articles about food appeared in The Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune, and he was featured in Food and Wine magazine. He has appeared on NBC's Today Show, NPR's All Things Considered, and American Public Media's The Splendid Table.
Jeremy published two books for teenagers under the pseudonym Alex Bradley. 24 Girls in 7 Days (2005) and Hot Lunch (2007) were teen comedies. 24 Girls in 7 Days was translated into several languages.
Jeremy has taught at Vassar College, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Grinnell College, and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. He's the recipient of a Henfield Prize, a James Michener-Copernicus Society of America Fellowship, and two Iowa Arts Council Grants. He's represented by Jennifer Carlson at Dunow, Carlson, and Lerner in New York.
Jeremy's first novel, Life at These Speeds, was published in 2002. It was a selection of the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers program, a Booklist Editor's Choice, and is currently being developed as a feature film. In 2004, Jeremy's second novel, In Summer, was a BookSense Recommended Book.
Jeremy has also written three cookbooks: The Cornbread Book, Desserts that Have Killed Better Men Than Me, and Good Day for a Picnic. The Cornbread Book was nominated for a James Berad Award. His articles about food appeared in The Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune, and he was featured in Food and Wine magazine. He has appeared on NBC's Today Show, NPR's All Things Considered, and American Public Media's The Splendid Table.
Jeremy published two books for teenagers under the pseudonym Alex Bradley. 24 Girls in 7 Days (2005) and Hot Lunch (2007) were teen comedies. 24 Girls in 7 Days was translated into several languages.
Jeremy has taught at Vassar College, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Grinnell College, and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. He's the recipient of a Henfield Prize, a James Michener-Copernicus Society of America Fellowship, and two Iowa Arts Council Grants. He's represented by Jennifer Carlson at Dunow, Carlson, and Lerner in New York.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 8, 2025
Weird book, took a while to grow on me because of the constant use of run-on sentences and overuse of the word "and." Took me like a third of the book to realize that Jeremy Jackson did it on purpose and it had a major factor in setting the tone of the "perfect summer day" that was fleeting throughout, almost a childlike way of describing things that fades throughout the novel. I didnt have a problem with too many characters like most reviews said. Mostly here because of Jackson's avid style of description and prose, and that's what I got. Interesting seeing that style used to indirectly describe a character so mentally different from Kevin Schuler in Life at These Speeds, same style but different tools. Love this author. Leo was a weird dude sometimes, but it worked out in the end. Not as good as Life at These Speeds, but worth the read
July 22, 2008
This was a quick re-read over a couple days recently. I'm a sucker for "The Wonder Years," and this fits right in that sort of nostalgic bittersweet niche that I love.
December 24, 2022
underwhelming
June 25, 2010
In the first few chapters of IN SUMMER, so many characters are introduced that we don't get to know much about any of them, including the main character, Leo. We get lost and we don't care about any of them. The characters are very generic and, because there are so many, we don't get to know any one of them all that well. That's not a very good way to draw in a reader.
Leo's character is strongest when paired against his little cousin, Gracie, and only she seems to draw out any personality from him. It's too bad they're not paired more often throughout the book. The dialogue between them is great, but the rest of the descriptions and characterizations fall flat.
Instead of character development and personalization, what the author does gives us is every little detail of action as it occurs. Unfortunately, it's all action that we, the readers, don't need to know and don't care about. It reminded me of someone who likes to talk on the phone for hours and give you every little detail of their day. For example: "He did this and then he did this and then he did this and then..." UGH. Stop already. Please.
I have to admit that I stopped reading IN SUMMER after 100 pages. I couldn't take it anymore. A friend once told me, "Life is too short to read bad books." In the first 100 pages of the 300-page book, here's what I learned: The main character's name was Leo. Later, Leo Peery. I learned that he just graduated high school and that it was summer. Summertime. Summertime. Leo is a lifeguard at a pool and he has lots of random friends and girlfriends and likes to fish and gets injured a few times and his mom is a nurse and she is going to Europe and she wants him to sell her antique sports car for her while she is gone so he can use the money to buy himself a new car for college. Oh, and that the author LOVES writing run-on sentences using the word "and" a lot. That was it. There's no plot focus. There's nothing moving the story forward. In 100 pages, that was all I knew about the story and its characters. Was it enough to make me want to go on? Anxious to find out what was going to happen to them next? No. A big fat resounding NO. Sadly, I still didn't really know any of these characters yet and found my will to continue diminished. If, after 100 pages, I didn't know about or care about the characters, why should I continue reading? This is not how I want MY summer to be remembered.
Leo's character is strongest when paired against his little cousin, Gracie, and only she seems to draw out any personality from him. It's too bad they're not paired more often throughout the book. The dialogue between them is great, but the rest of the descriptions and characterizations fall flat.
Instead of character development and personalization, what the author does gives us is every little detail of action as it occurs. Unfortunately, it's all action that we, the readers, don't need to know and don't care about. It reminded me of someone who likes to talk on the phone for hours and give you every little detail of their day. For example: "He did this and then he did this and then he did this and then..." UGH. Stop already. Please.
I have to admit that I stopped reading IN SUMMER after 100 pages. I couldn't take it anymore. A friend once told me, "Life is too short to read bad books." In the first 100 pages of the 300-page book, here's what I learned: The main character's name was Leo. Later, Leo Peery. I learned that he just graduated high school and that it was summer. Summertime. Summertime. Leo is a lifeguard at a pool and he has lots of random friends and girlfriends and likes to fish and gets injured a few times and his mom is a nurse and she is going to Europe and she wants him to sell her antique sports car for her while she is gone so he can use the money to buy himself a new car for college. Oh, and that the author LOVES writing run-on sentences using the word "and" a lot. That was it. There's no plot focus. There's nothing moving the story forward. In 100 pages, that was all I knew about the story and its characters. Was it enough to make me want to go on? Anxious to find out what was going to happen to them next? No. A big fat resounding NO. Sadly, I still didn't really know any of these characters yet and found my will to continue diminished. If, after 100 pages, I didn't know about or care about the characters, why should I continue reading? This is not how I want MY summer to be remembered.
July 23, 2009
I love love loved this book! In some ways, it's better than Jackson's first, Life at These Speeds. Maybe not as gorgeously written, but containing more connection with the main character. Perfectly captures summer and being young and indestructible and without responsibilities - main character is in the summer between high school and college.
Plus, the dialogue is fantastic, especially the protagonist's exchanges with his younger cousin. Totally quirky and fun. Search this out - for some crazy reason it's out of print.
Plus, the dialogue is fantastic, especially the protagonist's exchanges with his younger cousin. Totally quirky and fun. Search this out - for some crazy reason it's out of print.
February 5, 2013
Once you get into it, your memory starts playing short movie-bursts of what it was like to be hormonally charged and free... as only a teenager can feel in Summertime. Perhaps I enjoyed the read because I am raising teenage boys and their energy is infectious. The book reminded me of the time in your life where you are on the precipice of being an "adult", and processing all of the heaviness you perceive that status to mean. As a reader, we can see that Leo is going to be an amazing man.
February 5, 2009
Beautiful, beautiful prose. Sweet, and pretty. Can be read all at once (as I did) or slowly and gradually. Love!
Read
March 22, 2009This book was wonderful. I enjoyed reading it and can't wait to read more of Jeremy Jackson's books.
July 12, 2016
"The winter is like a tunnel and you just move forward and eventually you escape. Spring is change. Autumn is acceptance. But summer is...Summer is a realm" (176-177).
July 25, 2011
Not as great as Jackson's previous Life At These Speeds, but still a good book to read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews